Can You Dry Clean a Leather Jacket? (Get the Facts!)

As someone with many leather jackets, I’ve always asked myself can you dry clean a leather jacket? What is the process like? Does it damage them in any way? How much does it cost to have one dry cleaned?

In this post, we will go over the process of dry cleaning and whether or not you should take your leather jacket to the dry cleaners. Finally, I will go over the prices you should expect to pay to get your leather jacket dry cleaned.

How Does Dry Cleaning Work?

A dry cleaning machine is similar to a combination washer and dryer, only larger. The clothing is loaded into these machines, and the solvent is gradually added to lift away any stubborn stains or soil that may be present on each garment.

After the clothes have been cleaned, they are spun, removing all of the excess liquid. Then the garments are put through another cycle where warm air plus vaporized solvent circulate throughout it for drying purposes – once finished there’s no remaining residue or odor!

Dry cleaning is supposed to be gentle on the material. The unique chemical prolongs the life of most garments by removing stains and ground-in dirt that cause fiber abrasion.

However, the dry cleaning chemicals do not decide which oils should be removed from the leather. The good oils that prevent the leather from shrinking are removed with the harmful oils and stains. And they are not replaced during the cleaning process.

Should You Dry Clean a Leather Jacket?

Many people are not aware that dry cleaning, while more expensive than washing clothes at home or in a laundromat, is less harsh on fabrics because it doesn’t involve water.However, dry-cleaning is not the best thing for leather.

Dry cleaning for wool and other “dry clean only” garments isn’t the same process as “professional leather cleaner only” garments.

There’s no better way to screw up a leather jacket than to give it to someone else to care for in some unspecified way that you don’t understand. But a good leather expert will do wonders for a jacket that needs “tender loving care”.

If you know how to do it yourself, you can save quite a bit of money, plus get to spend quality time with your jackets, which makes them even more yours.

Dry cleaning is not a dry process. Your jacket is placed in a wet chemical bath. It isn’t easy to see the benefit of allowing someone to soak an expensive garment in a chemical bath when the same results can be achieved with a little washing.

The chemicals used in a dry cleaner could strip more natural oils and moisture from your leather jacket faster than water. And the other downside is that a leather jacket that gets soaking wet with rain, or during cleaning needs to be reconditioned immediately.

After your leather jacket is dry cleaned, who knows how long your jacket has been sitting on the rack getting stiff. Dry cleaners will not guarantee that your jacket won’t shrink (because they know it will).

In most cases, the only thing that needs to be thoroughly cleaned on a leather jacket is the lining. The outside of the leather needs an occasional wipe down.

If you feel like you need to wash your leather jacket, soak it in a tub or put it through a light wash on a low setting in the washing machine. Once you are finished, dry and condition the leather jacket. You can put a leather jacket in the dryer, but you need to be extremely cautious.

How Much Does It Cost To Dry Clean a Leather Jacket?